-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Karry Trout 's first patient was a 38-year-old woman who had been diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer .

The patient had waited nearly six months after feeling a lump in her breast to visit the doctor . She had no health insurance .

It was Trout 's job , as Mason General Hospital 's patient navigator , to guide the single mother through treatment and , hopefully , into recovery .

Patient navigation is a relatively new field in the health care industry . A navigator 's primary role is to remove the obstacles patients face in accessing or receiving treatment . More hospitals are creating these positions to help patients traverse an often-confusing medical system .

Despite her inexperience , Trout could relate to the fear she saw in the patient 's eyes .

`` I know what the shock of a diagnosis is like . I know what the waiting and the unknowns are like , '' she says . `` I have n't experienced it personally , but I think sometimes it 's worse when it 's your child going through it . ''

Trout 's daughter , Ella , was almost 8 months old when doctors first spotted a problem . One of Ella 's eyes was n't tracking properly , and soon after it started to bulge . Doctors at Seattle Children 's Hospital diagnosed an optic glioma , or a tumor growing around the nerve that connects the eye to the brain . By the time she was 18 months old , Ella had lost sight in both eyes .

Ella went through four years of chemotherapy , several major surgeries and six weeks of radiation all before the age of 7 .

New to Shelton , Washington , and a single mother , Trout struggled to keep Ella 's frequent doctor appointments in Seattle , about two hours from home , as well as work a full-time job as a radiologist for Mason General and juggle never-ending insurance forms .

`` It 's a lot , '' Trout says . `` And when you are going through that diagnosis , and then you have all of that on top of it , it can be very overwhelming . ''

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Four years ago , Trout got a notice from the Susan G. Komen foundation about a grant for breast cancer patient navigation . What on earth is patient navigation ? she wondered . After a bit of research , Trout realized what had been missing from her experience with Ella .

`` I did n't have somebody who was my go-to person , '' she says .

Trout applied for the grant , and Mason General was awarded enough money to start a program .

In her role as a patient navigator , Trout does community outreach to raise awareness about the importance of breast cancer screening . She is one of the first staff members to meet with a patient after a diagnosis , providing them with information that they can read later when the shock has worn off . She works with specialists to arrange appointments and helps connect women with financial aid , transportation or child care if they need it .

`` When you get that initial diagnosis , you just have a lot of questions , '' she says . `` And it 's hard to pick up the phone and speak to your physician or nurse every time you have a question . That 's what I 'm here for . ''

Patient navigation programs are the result of the medical community 's new emphasis on patient-centered care , says Mandi Pratt , associate director of community programs at George Washington University 's Cancer Institute .

`` Patient navigation , in part , is a function of how fragmented our -LRB- health care -RRB- system is , '' Pratt says . `` It makes it difficult to have a seamless experience . ''

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Advocates say patient-centered care can improve outcomes and reduce costs , so much so that hospital reimbursement from insurance companies is now partially tied to patients ' opinions on how well a facility treated them .

In 2011 , the American College of Surgeons ' Commission on Cancer established new accreditation standards for cancer facilities , requiring them to incorporate `` a patient navigation process to address health care disparities and barriers to care . ''

The standards move us closer to a future Dr. Harold Freeman first envisioned in the 1980s . Freeman then was a breast cancer surgeon in Harlem , New York , trying to figure out why patients in his hospital had a five-year survival rate of 39 % when it should have been closer to 85 % .

Freeman realized many patients were being diagnosed with late-stage breast cancers ; they were arriving at the clinic with large masses that had obviously been ignored . Freeman identified five main barriers his patients faced in receiving care : financial , communication , medical system , psychological and personal .

Obstacles ranged from not having health insurance to not understanding the language . Some patients feared doctors or mistrusted medical advice . Others simply missed chemotherapy because they could n't find child care .

`` People got lost in the complex system , '' Freeman says .

In 1990 , he pioneered the first-ever patient navigation program , training people from the community to listen and answer questions after a diagnosis . He also began an educational program to advocate for screenings .

Over time he increased patients ' five-year survival rate in the same population to 70 % .

These barriers are never going to go away completely , Freeman says , but patient navigation can help address them .

`` Can you eliminate poverty ? Probably not ... but you can change the things that poverty means , '' he says . `` If poor people are less educated , you can educate poor people . If poor people do n't have access to screening , diagnosis or treatment , you can create programs to concentrate on those one by one . ''

For now , patient navigation is primarily being used in the cancer community , but it 's spreading to other chronic diseases . Even patient navigation , Freeman says , falls prey to our fragmented system -- one filled with specialists that each operate in a separate universe .

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Freeman compares the care continuum , from the first examination to survivorship , to a mile relay .

`` It takes teams of people passing batons one to the other until the last runner crosses the finish line . ''

Since starting the patient navigator program at Mason General , Trout has helped hundreds of women cross that finish line . She often receives letters of thanks from patients who say she helped them feel empowered to make informed decisions in a time of chaos .

`` I think when you go through things as a patient , you know , as a parent -- to be able to be treated with compassion and not just -LRB- as -RRB- another diagnosis is a gift , '' Trout says . `` And that 's what I hope I provide . ''

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More hospitals are hiring patient navigators to help patients through a confusing system

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Most navigators are working in cancer centers , but the idea is spreading to other areas

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Dr. Harold Freeman pioneered the first patient navigation program in 1990